I got in touch with the forums a few months back when there was uncertainty about our financial future. Unfortunately this has been confirmed but with slightly different circumstances.

My wife has always been employed on a good wage. Unfortunately due to health she has had to resign and isn’t going to be working for at least the next year. Any future income will not be at the rate she has been earning. She has been given a payout of around £13000. She has about £30000 worth of debt as well as a car on a PCP with about £18000 left- the payments are about £380 so completely unaffordable now.

I also have around £30000 worth of debt, my income will be around £1800 after tax but that will be to cover all outgoings for ouselves as well as our children- 2 and 6.

We have a mortgaged house on a help to buy scheme- we have a mortgage with about £109000 remaining, about £20000 equity but a secured loan of £43500 which we only pay interest on. I have looked at living expense guides and think we could have about £120 left over at the end of the month. I know this is going to be a complete change but a change is what is needed and we need to learn to live within our means rather than the mentality that we will pay it off one day thinking that we will always have our health!

My key question is:

Would it be viable to do a full and final offer for my wife’s debt using her payout as the funds. This would hopefully stop her going down the bankruptcy route which she would ultimately have to do if the full and final wasn’t do-able. I then would go down the Iva route to put my debt into some sort of management.

The replies would be generally similar to those you received earlier: You need to discuss the whole situation with an IP (or three) to work out the best way forward, taking everything into account. A F&F IVA might well be suitable for the wife, while you go into a contributions based IVA and, yes, one IP could look at these options for both of you.

The replies would be generally similar to those you received earlier: You need to discuss the whole situation with an IP (or three) to work out the best way forward, taking everything into account. A F&F IVA might well be suitable for the wife, while you go into a contributions based IVA and, yes, one IP could look at these options for both of you.

Brilliant, thanks very much. I have opened some dialogue with an IP today but wanted some guaranteed ‘honest and impartial’ advice before continuing and reaching out to others.